Passive-Aggressive Organization

With  the experiences I discussed in my previous blogs , that company could be considered as a passive-aggressive organization. Harvard Business Review describes a passive – aggressive organization to have possessed these characteristics: a)Unclear Scope of Authority       b) Agreement Without Cooperation      c) Misleading Goals  d) Ineffective Motivators  e) Unclear Decision Rights.

In this type of  organization, lines of authority are unclear, merit is not rewarded, and people have learned to smile, nod, and do just enough to get by.

Unclear Scope of Authority. Based on my experience with this type of organization, indeed, there was an unclear scope of authority. Some managers were given authorities to make some decisions which at any time can be interrupted by the President, the owner itself or by any personnel close to the owner. The scope of authorities were not well-defined.  Quality Control Department decides on some standards which are at any time can be altered by anybody from the top management.

Agreement Without Cooperation. With unclear scope of authority, subsequently, it led to agreement without cooperation. People tend to become passive of some implementations of the management.  Being confused of the different standards implemented, Quality Control Department where I belong became indecisive on some matters which later made the Quality Control Inspectors became passive of the some new quality standards created. This is because when a quality standard was imposed, at any time, such standard is altered by a “somebody” in the management. 

With these, the first two characteristics of a passive-aggressive organization are evident.

Misleading Goals. I have gone through the employment of these misleading goals on the same company.  At one time, Quality Control Inspectors were tasked to inspect a certain number of products in a day to cope up with the delivery target. Consequently, some inspectors were not concentrating on the quality but on the quantity of products they can inspect. As a result, there were a lot of customer complaints on the products.

Ineffective Motivators. On my blog, “Organizing for Empowerment”, I have stated my experience on that passive-aggressive organization. A passive- aggressive organization is poor at judging and rewarding individuals according to their business value to the organization. Many of my colleagues who were promoted were not given raise on their salaries, that includes me.  While some people in the senior positions who were doing less were given  an ample raise.  They spent a lot on meetings neglecting to include those high performers who have valuable insights but with no authority. Soon these employees’ healthy impulses to learn, to achieve and share  which are not encouraged  led them to develop gradually adaptive conduct. And when they became burnout, they soon ran away.

Unclear Decision Rights.  Since the job descriptions were not clear on this same company where I worked before, it followed that there were unclear decision rights. When a failure or complaint exist, everybody is taking a blame on somebody.